100+ Russian Baby Boy Names for Your Little Boy

Does your family have Russian roots? Are you in love with the culture, natural beauty, and wonder of the country? Or are you simply curious about Russian names? Whatever the reason you’re here, we’ve got lots of Russian boy names that’ll sound awesome for your little one. In this article: 📝

What to know about Russian male names

But first, how do Russian names work? Before you name your little boy, it’s worth understanding how they all fit together. Russian full names have three parts:

• The surname. This works just like it does in the English language. Note that Russian surnames often end in “-ov.” Think Ivanov or Lermontov.

• The patronymic. Here is where Russian names differ from “western” naming conventions. The patronymic, the Russian middle name, is based on your father’s name. If your dad is called Mikhail, say, your middle name will be Mikhailovich. Always, for male Russian names, the patronymic ends in “-ovich.”

• Given name. It’s the name that people go by normally. But there’s often a twist, known as the diminutive form – the secret to many a Russian nickname. Diminutive forms of names are ways to express affection or familiarity, and usually they are made by taking the first syllable of a given name and adding “-sha.” For example, Mikhail becomes Misha, and Pavel becomes Pasha.

So, now that we understand that, here are over 100 Russian names for boys.

What is a common Russian boy name?

1. Aleksander, or as the Russians write it in the Cyrillic alphabet, Александр – From the Latin meaning “defender of men,” it’s most often associated with the famous warrior, Alexander the Great. It’s often found in the diminutive form as Sasha.

More common Russian baby boy names

After Aleksander, here are some of the most common boy names in Russia:

2. Maxim – Максим. A name of Latin origin, it means "the greatest."
3. Artyom – Артём, Артем. Deriving from the Greek goddess Artemis, the god of hunting and childbirth. The diminutive form is Tyoma.
4. Mikhail – Михаил. The Russian equivalent of Michael, Mikhail has a lovely Eastern ring to it. Its meaning is actually a question: "who resembles god?"
5. Ivan – Иван. What's the most Russian name? For most people in the West, this is it. Ivan was a famous king of Russia, the so-called Ivan the Terrible. The diminutive form is Vanya.
6. Daniel, Danila, Danil – Даниил, Данила, Данил. The Russian equivalent of Daniel, it comes from the bible and means "God is my judge."
7. Dmitriy – Дмитрий. Another classic Russian name, Dmitriy actually means "follower of Demeter," the ancient Greek goddess of the harvest.
8. Kirill – Кирилл. Related to the name Cyril, Kirill comes from a word meaning "lord” in Greek.
9. Andrei – Андрей. Andrei is the Russian equivalent of Andrew. It means "strong and manly."
10. Egor, Igor – Игорь. A surprise Russian relative of George. It actually means "farm laborer."

10 more popular Russian baby boy names

There are plenty more names where those came from! Here are more distinctively Russian names – with their meanings.

11. Nikita – Никита. A common Russian name meaning "victor," it’s also popular across eastern Europe. It’s sometimes used as a girl's name, too.
12. Ilya – Илья. It’s a beautiful little name that derives from Hebrew. Think of it like a Russian Elijah.
13. Alexei – Алексей. A very cute variation of the name Alexander.
14. Matvey – Матвей. Matvey is similar to the English name Matthew (or Matthieu, Mateo, or Matthias). It means "gift of God."
15. Timofey – Тимофей. Timofey is the Russian version of Timothy, meaning "honoring a god." It can be shortened to Tima or Timosha.
16. Novel – Роман. While in Russian it is a boy name, it is also used as a female name across the world, as a sort of literary twist on names like Nova.
17. Vladimir – Владимир. Another name that sounds perfectly Russian, Vladimir means "of great power." Think Vladimir the Great.
18. Yaroslav – Ярослав. A wonderful Russian boy name meaning "glory of the sun."
19. Fedor, Fyodor – Фёдор, Федор. The name of the famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky, it means "god’s gift."
20. Gleb – Глеб. A unique Russian boy name. It means "heir of god."

10 cute Russian boy names

21. George – Георгий. A familiar one. Like Igor, George means "farm laborer."
22. Konstantin – Константин. What a strong and noble name! It means "firm and stable” and is famous thanks to the emperor Constantine.
23. Lev / Leo – Лев. Leo, or Lev, or Leonid, means Lion. It’s a reliable, strong name in any language.
24. Nikolay – Николай. Think Nicholas, but Russian. It means "victory of the people."
25. Stepan – Степан. Meaning "crown” or "wreath," Stepan (or Stefan in other languages) is a noble favorite.
26. Vladislav – Владислав. Vladislav means "famous."
27. Pavel – Павел. Pavel means "small," but that doesn’t mean he can’t do great things.
28. Arseny – Арсений. It can be spelled Arseni or Arseniy. It means "virile” and "strong."
29. Denis – Денис. We have the name in English too. It means "devotee of Dionysus." Who was Dionysus? The god of revelry and intoxication
30. Timur – Тимур. A less familiar Russian boy name, it means "iron.” But it has a surprisingly gentle sound to it.

More popular Russian male names

Here, we’ll leave you with another 71 Russian boy names. Happy name hunting, mama!

31. Abram – Абрам
32. Albert – Альберт
33. Alyosha – Алёша
34. Anastas – Анаста́с
35. Anatoly – Анатолий
36. Anton – Антон
37. Arkady – Аркадий
38. Artemy – Артемий
39. Artur – Артур
40. Afanasy – Афанасий
41. Bogdan – Богдан
42. Boris – Борис
43. Budimir – Будимир
44. Damien – Дамиан
45. David – Давид
46. Denis – Денис
47. Eduard – Эдуард
48. Erik – Эрик
49. Evgeny – Евгений
50. Garry – Гарри
51. Gavriil – Гавриил
52. Gennady – Геннадий
53. Georgy – Георгий
54. Gerasim – Герасим
55. German – Герман
56. Grigory – Григорий
57. Ignat / Ignaty – Игнат / Игнатий
58. Illarion – Илларион
59. Ilia – Илья
60. Immanuil – Иммануил
61. Iosif – Иосиф
62. Leonid – Леонид
63. Luka – Лука́
64. Makar – Макар
65. Marat – Марат
66. Mark – Марк
67. Milan – Милан
68. Nestor – Нестор
69. Oleg – Олег
70. Osip – о̀сип
71. Pavel – Павел
72. Pyotr / Peter / Petr – Пётр
73. Radomir – Радомир
74. Robert – Роберт
75. Rodion – Родион
76. Roman – Роман
77. Rostislav – Ростислав
78. Ruslan – Руслан
79. Samuil – Самуил
80. Semyon – Семён
81. Sergei – Сергей
82. Spartak – Спартак
83. Stanislav – Станислав
84. Taras – Тарас
85. Trofim – Трофим
86. Vadim – Вадим
87. Valentin – Валентин
88. Valery – Валерий
89. Vasily – Василий
90. Veniamin – Вениамин
91. Viktor – Виктор
92. Vitaly – Виталий
93. Vlad – Влад
94. Vsevolod – Всеволод
95. Vyacheslav – Вячеслав
96. Yakov – Яков
97. Yegor – Егор
98. Yefim – Ефим
99. Yulian – Юлиан
100. Yury – Юрий
101. Zakhar – Захар

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